Music making is often a collaborative effort among many musicians who interact with each other. One form of musical interaction may be provided by a video game genre known as “rhythm-action,” which involves a player performing phrases from an assigned, prerecorded musical composition using a video game's input device to simulate a musical performance. If the player performs a sufficient percentage of the notes or cues displayed for the assigned part, the singer may score well for that part and win the game. If the player fails to perform a sufficient percentage, the singer may score poorly and lose the game. Two or more players may compete against each other, such as by each one attempting to play back different, parallel musical phrases from the same song simultaneously, by playing alternating musical phrases from a song, or by playing similar phrases simultaneously. The player who plays the highest percentage of notes correctly may achieve the highest score and win.
Two or more players may also play with each other cooperatively. In this mode, players may work together to play a song, such as by playing different parts of a song, either on similar or dissimilar instruments. One example of a rhythm-action game with different instruments is the ROCK BAND® series of games, developed by Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. and published by Electronic Arts, Inc. and MTV Games. ROCK BAND® simulates a band experience by allowing players to play a rhythm-action game using various simulated instruments, e.g., a simulated guitar, a simulated bass guitar, a simulated drum set, or by singing into a microphone. Other examples of rhythm-action games, focused specifically on singing or vocal performances are the KARAOKE REVOLUTION® series of games published by Konami Digital Entertainment, the SINGSTAR® series published by SONY Computer Entertainment, and LIPS™ published by Microsoft Corporation. An example of a prior art systems and methods for comparing a received vocal input's pitch and timing to a particular vocal track pitch is U.S. Pat. No. 7,164,076 to McHale et al.
Prior rhythm-action games directed to vocal performance typically allow one or more players to sing the main vocal part of a song, i.e., the vocal melody. Often the interfaces of these games are similar to traditional karaoke interfaces in that the lyrics appear as words on a display in a sequence and some indication is given to the player which lyrics should be sung when. For example, in Microsoft's LIPS™ game, a lyrical phrase is displayed in white text in the center of the screen and when a word is supposed to be sung, that word's text changes color from white to yellow. Naturally, at the end of the phrase, the text of the entire phrase is yellow. While the current phrase is being performed, the next phrase is displayed in grey text below the current phrase and at the end of the current phrase, the new phrase is shifted up and the text is changed from grey to white.
Beyond what is offered by traditional karaoke systems, many vocal-oriented rhythm-action games also indicate to the player the pitch the player is expected to sing. In LIPS™, a series of stationary hollow horizontal cues or “note tubes” are arranged vertically according to the pitch to person is expected to sing; higher notes are displayed as tubes located higher on the display than tubes representing lower notes. The length of a note tube generally indicates the duration of the lyrics or syllable, and the tubes fill in with color only when the player is singing on key. When the next phrase is to be sung, the prior set of tubes disappears and the next set of tubes is displayed.
In SINGSTAR®, a similar pitch-relative stationary tube system is used—that is hollow tubes show what the player is expected to sing—but the input from the player also paints tubes on the screen reflecting the player's pitch. This has the effect of filling in the hollow tubes when the player is on key and coloring in areas above and below the tube when the player's voice is sharp or flat, respectively, to the expected pitch.
KARAOKE REVOLUTION® presents pitch differently that LIPS™ or SINGSTAR®. In KARAOKE REVOLUTION®, a lane is displayed to the player with a note tubes within it that scroll from right to left with lyrics that scroll under the corresponding note tubes. Both the lyrics and note tubes pass through the vertical plane of a target marker, or “Now Bar,” that indicates when the lyric is supposed to be sung and at what pitch. Additionally, an arrow-shaped pitch indicator moves vertically within the lane with respect to the note tube to indicate how sharp or flat the player's voice is compared to the expected pitch represented by the note tube and aligns with the note tube and gives off “sparks” when the player is on key. Unfortunately, the display method used in KARAOKE REVOLUTION® is incompatible with certain displays and causes the lyrics of a song to “tear” and blur, thereby interfering with the player's enjoyment of the game.
Another problem with prior rhythm-action games is the handling of multiple singers. Often only one player is allowed to provide the vocals for a group. Where multiple players can sing, even as a group, players' performances are isolated with respect to each other—that is for each player a separate lane is presented on the display. This is true even when both players are singing the exact same part. Furthermore, though these existing rhythm-action games provide a single user with the ability to sing as part of a band, or sing the same vocal parts as another player, i.e., both players sing the melody as a duet or to sing as lead and backup vocals, none allow players to dynamically switch which vocal part the player is singing. In existing rhythm-action games where players can sing simultaneously, players are locked into a particular part. For example, in KARAOKE REVOLUTION® PRESENTS AMERICAN IDOL® ENCORE, during a “True Duet” where two players sing simultaneously, before the song starts, one player must choose to sing “lead vocals” while the second player chooses “backup.” Once gameplay begins, each player is required to sing only the assigned phrases for the part they initially selected, and are penalized as “missing” his or her assigned part if they sing the part assigned to the other player. These part assignments remain until the end of gameplay, thus preventing player from experimenting with different parts unless they physically exchange microphones. The present invention overcomes these deficiencies in several ways.